It's that time of year. You gratefully accept a few zucchini from your neighbor's ambitious garden. Then she comes over with a few more, and although you can't really do anything with them, you take them in. Next time, you refuse, and that's when brown paper bags of summer squash mysteriously show up on your doorstep in the middle of the night, full of innocuous green batons intent on overrunning your kitchen.
Where do they come from? How do they reproduce so fast and grow to such enormous sizes? We don't know, but it seems prudent to have a few efficient methods of attack this time of year. The standard zucchini bread recipe only calls for one or two squash - what if you need to dispose of one or two bushels?
When dealing with an invasion of this magnitude it's best to have several campaign strategies. Ours go like this: Grate - Freeze - Puree.
Grated zucchini can stay good in the freezer for quite some time, wrapped well in several layers, and it will be fresh and ready for winter stir-frys. You can freeze slices too; slice and freeze on a cookie sheet then dump the individual slices into baggies. You can also puree it. This is great baby food, and also a good base for soups and breads.
How do you deal with zucchini onslaught?
More Zucchini Attack Links
• Raw Zucchini Ratatouille
• 8 Ways to Eat Zucchini
• RecipeZaar Thread with recipes for things like Mock Apple Pie.
(Image credit: Go South Produce)
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That "zucchini child" photo is hilarious! A couple of years ago, we had a wet summer and I ended up with some wicked huge zucchini from my CSA. One looked like a small watermelon. I hollowed it out and layered browned ground turkey, ricotta, and chopped tomatoes inside, then baked it like a lasagna. After a couple of weeks of that, I just stopped taking zucchini from the bin, so I have no idea what to do with bushels of 'em.
I have a friend whose neighbor decided to grow some variety of Bolivian squash in his garden. The vine jumped the fence into my friend's yard, choking out his vegetable garden and flower beds, and leaving him with enormous squash to get rid of. One day, he hauled one of the "monster squash" out of his basement to show me. It must have weighed 30 pounds. I guess that's just one small reason why it's illegal to plant non-native species.
when i was a kid, summers in the hamptons, zucchini fries were our go to food this time of year. you can basically get a kid to eat anything that's fried and salted, even if it's green. and we did. breakfast lunch and dinner. we got fried food, my parents got rid of the zucchini and we ate our vegies. everybody was happy. stuffed zucchini flowers is another way to go and cuts those grow happy squash off at the pass.
I sneak them into pastas and soups, because they take on the taste of whatever spices you put in, but it's a good way to get another serving of veggies in there. They're great grated or finely shredded (I have one of those slicer things with a shredding attachment) and then added into the pasta sauce at the same time as the onions. I put it in spaghetti and lasagnas and such.
They're also good for hollowing out and using as boats for various things - I make spicy cheese zucchini boats with pepperjack cheese and breakfast sausage and breadcrumbs.
I LOVE zucchini!
Zucchini freezes pretty well. I just used a mandoline and sliced them up, parboiled, and froze.
funny that you should post about an abundance of zucchini: i'm in the process of making stuffed zucchini with avgolemono sauce as i type this. it's my all-time favorite summer meal - we used to go visit my grandmother in montreal every summer, and she would have it ready for us after the long road-trip to get there.
i even called her today for tips on how to make it. yum yum!
I just this past weekend tried a new zucchini recipe, I found it at www.justhungry.com it is a zucchini and chickpea flour pancake. It was delicious and will definitely be making that again. I couldn't find anywhere actual chickpea flour, so I bought a bag of dried beans and put them into the blender, worked like a charm.
I spent a weekend at my brother's place in the country last weekend. They usually don't lock their car doors there. This time, I was getting out of my car and he told me to lock my car. I asked why, and he replied "because if you don't, you'll come out in the morning and find a bunch of zucchinis and tomatoes in it."
Sarah -
Bob's Red Mill makes a chickpea flour, just so you know.
I love cream of zucchini soup! It's the best. We had it for dinner tonight, actually. My mom recently tried some zucchini bread...it's remarkably like banana bread.
Funny you should post on this...Garrison Keillor said that zucchini were the scourge of country living or something like this.
Bx, that's really hilarious! Guerilla veggie donations!
I just got my first courgette (zucchini) from my veggie plot - I was so proud! I think there's a Nigella Lawson recipe for courgette cake you could try...!
I love zucchini pancakes: my ratio is usually 1 lb zucchini: half cup flour: one egg, and some minced garlic. Stir, pan fry, and enjoy! These freeze really well, too.
zucchini bread is quick and easy...wonderful for breakfast and you can freeze the loaves
Vegetable lasagna with layers of noodles, zucchini, white sauce, cheese--with or without sausage
Grill zucchini, eggplant and onions with garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and toss with spring mix or penne pasta--add parmesan or goat cheese and lots of pepper
Zucchini Quiche!!!
When I was a kid I remember one "Summer of Zucchini", when we ate it with every meal from July to November. (my mother would throw nothing away) I was so sick of zucchini I don't think I ate it again until I was 29 years old......now I love it again and grow it in my own garden.
Clotilde Dusoullier's first CHOCOLATE AND ZUCCHINI book has a very good recipe for a chocolate and zucchini cake. I also once made some buttermilk biscuits with grated cheddar, crumbled bacon, and some grated zucchini (I think it was two cups grated, then tossed with a teaspoon of salt and left to sit for a half hour, and then squeezed down to make a half-cup).